Date:	10th November 1996
Mountains:	Carn Liath (975m), Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain (1070m), Carn nan Gabhar (1129m)
Group:	Edinburgh Academy Senior Meet
Conditions:	Cloud above ca. 600m, fresh snowfall above ca. 400m

My second trip to the highlands was to the Beinn a'Ghlo mountains near Pitlochrie, in reasonably serious winter conditions. There was a considerable amount of fresh snowfall and thick cloud cover for almost all of the day save the initial ascent and final descent. The snow was soft, however, so we left ice axes in the car.

Details of the day are not entirely clear. After an initial walk in, we climbed into the cloud up a shoulder, eventually reaching the summit of Carn Liath. By this point my woefully inadequate waterproofs and gloves made it quite a cold experience. Not so much the gloves - but I found that when I took them off my hands went numb so quickly that I then didn't have enough finger strength to get tham back into the gloves properly. This was to be a problem for several years until I decided that mitts were the way ahead. We live and learn.

After climbing the second summit (Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain), there was a poll as to whether we should climb the final summit. I don't recall anyone raising any objections, so on we went through cloud.

The descent off the final summit was down a snow-covered slope, where we were warned to be wary of avalanches. Certainly the snow was deep, but it was also all very soft and no real hint of any layering. Still, the warning has stuck in my memory 9 years on... The walk back entailed walking all the way round the bottom of Beinn a'Ghlo (as was to become a feature of school senior meets), and except for the first 30 minutes was done in complete darkness. Much of it followed along a well-established path, however.

A long day for a second trip up Scottish mountains. My legs hurt...

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